The Two State Horse is Dead, Why Keep Flogging It?

Oblivious to Nutanyahoo’s murder of the two state solution (again) this week before the US Congress, Australian politician Melissa Parke keeps flogging a dead horse. Melissa’s speech is notable though for its recognition of the oppression of Israel’s occupation, a rare occurrence in the Australian Parliament. She meanders down the fallacious imperialist/zionist path of the formation of two states being central to the US national security interest and further drags Australia’s national security interest into the mix.

Israel’s Zionist left urges Europe to recognize a Palestinian state too – when will the Israeli ‘left’ call for equal rights for all, an end to apartheid and the Occupation regardless of one or two states? Along the zionist spectrum, there is the vicious zionist right wingers, who are conflating support for a Palestinian state by the EU as tantamount to anti-semitism.

Is Zionism set to implode at last, unable to resolve its racist contradictions? The just rights demanded by Palestinian people in their call to boycott, divest and sanction apartheid Israel bypass and supercede the Israeli and western imperialists’ obsession with protecting racist privilege through a mythological quest for a ‘peace process’ focused on two states for two ‘peoples’, ignoring the facts that 20% of Israel’s population are not jewish, and there are half a million jewish settlers illegally squatting in the Occupied Territories. It is not the West’s ‘national security interests’ which are at stake here – how racist is it to place Palestinians’ human and political rights in the context of ‘national security’? – but credibility as purveyor of the enlightened values of democracy and human rights the developed world claims to embrace.

As Rae Abileah says: ‘Before we go preaching democracy abroad, we should make our own democracy more responsive to the public good, not the wishes of wealthy lobbyists.’ And by reference to this quote, I don’t just mean the zionist lobby, but the entire capitalist corporate lobby behemoth whose imperialist interests coincide.

Related Links

When will time run out for a two-state solution?
Collaborator Abbas to form unelected technocrat ‘government’ to sell out Palestinians and please the Quartet in June
Fact-checking Netanyahu’s Speech
‘The smallest minds and cowardliest hearts’: Is Congress clapping for apartheid? Zionist Walt misses the point about US support for Israel’s policies as usual. Still, he recognises Nutanyahoo’s assassination of the two state solution regardless.
Livni: Palestinian statehood isn’t a favor to Obama, it’s vital for Israel – Livni is Nutanyahoo-light, attempting to pander to all sides.
UK calls for G8 financial aid for ‘Arab Spring’ – racist Cameron is happy to pay bribes to stop hordes of invading Muslims.
Rashid Khalidi : ‘While this was not a good week for Barack Obama, and was a very good one for Binyamin Netanyahu, it also can be a salutary occasion for Palestinians and Arabs. It should finally cure those still infected with the diseased notion that they have anything to gain by bending to the importuning of American diplomacy.’
Francis Boyle responds vigorously to Goodwin-Gill’s opinion on the institution of a Palestinian state by the PA.
Palestinian Americans “unequivocally reject” PA’s UN statehood bid

‘We call on all Palestinian and Arab community associations, societies and committees, student organizations, solidarity campaigns, to reject fully and unequivocally the Statehood initiative as a distraction that unjustifiably and irresponsibly endangers Palestinian rights and institution.’

‘Like the BNC, the USPCN statement emphasizes that fundamental Palestinian rights, not “statehood” remain the core of Palestinian efforts:

As has been recently revealed, this initiative in no way protects nor advances our inalienable, and internationally recognized, rights—fundamental of which are our right to return to the homes and properties from which we were forcibly expelled, our right to self-determination, and our right to resist the settler colonial regime that has occupied our land for more than 63 years.

The Palestinian people, wherever they are, hold these rights. They are non-negotiable. No one can barter them away for false promises of “peace” and “stability.” The cynical irony of turning a UN resolution enshrining our right to return under international law (UNGA Res. 194) into a rhetorical ploy should give anyone pause. That it is being advanced at a time when the PA does not even have the political mandate of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza through Palestinian Legislative Council elections must also give us pause.;

‘Goodwin-Gill’s memo and an interview he gave explaining its implications have heightened concern among Palestinians about the PA’s ill-thought out and desperate step which comes after the complete failure of the US-sponsored “peace process” on which the PA bet all its cards.’

Virginia Tilley: Bantustans and the unilateral declaration of statehood

‘But more importantly, the South African comparison helps illuminate why the ambitious projects of pacification, “institution building” and economic development that the Ramallah PA and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad have whole-heartedly embarked upon are not actually exercises in “state-building.” Rather, they emulate with frightening closeness and consistency South Africa’s policies and stages in building the Bantustan/Homelands. Indeed, Fayyad’s project to achieve political stability through economic development is the same process that was openly formalized in the South African

Samir Abed-Rabbo’s piece contrasting the One and Two state outcomes.
Abbas: I don’t want to declare unilateral statehood

He insisted in the interview that Palestinians would not be able to force the right of return for Palestinian refugees on Israelis within the context of a peace agreement, but that he seeks a “just solution.”

Samah Sabawi:

There are three major conditions needed for a free viable Palestinian state. The first is national unity – the Palestinian state needs to represent all Palestinians as one people whether inside or outside of Occupied Palestine. A second component is economic viability – a Palestinian state needs be able to make its own decisions on sovereign matters and not be held hostage to foreign aid and the will of donor countries. A third and major component of a Palestinian state is security – it needs to have the strength to claim the land and protect is people either through an army or some form of international guarantees.’

Sonja Karkar notes the tired Israeli strategy for deferral of Palestinian rights : ‘Negotiations are, in fact, a ruse to keep the old discredited paradigm of a two-state solution going for as long as it takes Netanyahu to achieve his goal of a Greater Israel.’
UN envoy Prosor: Israel has no chance of stopping recognition of Palestinian state
Legal opinion challenges PLO statehood bid : Al Jazeera’s Nour Samaha interviews Professor Guy Goodwin-Gill about his legal opinion about the dangers of the PA bid for fake Palestinian statehood which he says will threaten the rights of the Palestinian refugees.
Ashrawi: UN statehood bid no threat to PLO

Palestine / Israel Links

Imagine, Think! And Then Act to Change Things!
Support the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza
U.S. ‘confident’ Egypt can provide good security at Rafah borderThis does not augur well — after the border is open, will the zionists bomb every square inch of the rest of the border to deal to the tunnels?
New hasbara plea! Israel must stop overplaying the Holocaust card
Mendes attempts to delegitimise criticism of zionism and Israel in a bundle of mendacious furphies
Knesset Education Committee chairman Alex Miller (Israel Beiteinu) announced on Wednesday that he has called an emergency meeting to discuss possible sanctions against Tel Aviv University after Islamic Sheikh Raed Salah’s recent controversial speech on campus.
One of the remarkable youth groups newly initiated inside Gaza is the Palestine Youth Advocacy Network “PYAN”— which is also a word in Arabic that could mean exposition, representation, rhetoric or radiance, all of which have to do with the nature of work the team undertakes.
U.S. Announces Sanctions Against Israeli Company
A Palestinian Revolt in the Making?
Two Palestinian Children Injured from Dud Bomb in South Hebron Hills
Bigotry in the Israeli media :

Of course, in traditional Christianity and in Orthodox Judaism, hostility to gays exceeds the few vague references in the Qur’an. But Israeli writers, very much like classical anti-Semites, are so obsessed with their hatred of Islam and Muslims that they have to bring it in no matter what. Furthermore, openly or semi openly “gay” leaders (like Sultan Qaboos) have served as heads of state in Arab and Muslim lands but not in Israel.

Israeli police use new electrical stunning device on protesters
A queer confrontation with the Israel lobby
A Good Week for Bibi, a Bad Week for Barack, an Opportunity for Palestinians
1 December 1947: The partition of Palestine
Social media whore Palmor: “We have formulated some arguments that are relevant to what’s going to happen in September, even if we don’t know exactly what it will be. We began disseminating these arguments and statements, backed by links to documents and articles, among the relevant bloggers and social media members. From our perspective we’ve already begun the battle over publicity, though formally, nothing has begun. Our main argument is ‘Palestinian state yes, but only through direct negotiations.’ In events that we have to truncate the message to fewer characters, we say, ‘Let’s talk’.”
Michelle Chen:

‘the power of secular pro-democracy movements throughout the region now reverberate in Palestine as a validation of grassroots resistance.

If that feedback loop can be harnessed to reinvigorate the idea of Palestinian liberation, then we might finally see the ends and the means match up in the struggle to defeat imperialism, violence and dictatorship.’

Kirk boycott resolution scuppered by Israeli legal ‘intimidation’

Egypt Links

Egypt: #May27 Demands (in Arabic and English)
UK calls for G8 financial aid for ‘Arab Spring’
Relatonship between the Arab uprisings and literature.

Other Links

You know who else answered questions they were asked by the media…
Sarkozy’s government war on the internet

Animal Farm Imperialism Revealed

Zionism and imperialism – two heads of the same grotesque beast, which advances the cause of robber barons who defend their own interests under the holy shibboleth of capitalism.

Palestine / Israel Links

Cheering Netanyahu’s Intransigence
A year of steadfastness in Israeli prison
Apartments Are Dedicated in Jerusalem
Palestinian UN bid: Israel’s battle for Europe
Egypt to open Rafah border permanently
Israel links EU support for Palestinians to anti-Semitism
Israel to UN: You say innocents, I say villains
Top UN official calls for end to Israel’s displacement of Palestinians :

“At 700 kilometres long, with 85 per cent of its route inside the West Bank, the Barrier cuts off communities from basic services, denies people access to their homes, and leaves thousands of people dependent on humanitarian handouts.”
Recounting a meeting she had with Palestinians who had been evicted from their homes in East Jerusalem to make way for Israeli settlements, Ms. Amos said they faced daily violence and threats from settlers, noting the attacks on Palestinians are rarely prosecuted.
Thousands of Palestinians had lost their right to live in East Jerusalem and those in the West Bank struggled to access specialized education and reach medical facilities that are only available in Jerusalem.

Fact-checking Netanyahu’s Speech
DePaul vote on Sabra hummus a victory for human rights: SJP’s strategy is not predicated on the elimination of an Israeli state. Rather, it deals purely with human rights. The logic is simple; boycotting Sabra hummus and other similarly problematic products sends a strong signal to owners of the companies that make them, which is that any profiteering from human rights violations will not be tolerated.

Nakba Day 2011: The Other Exodus

Other Links

Pilger: Murdoch keeps Australia’s dirty secret

Boycott Max Brenner – Don’t Buy Israeli Apartheid Action in Melbourne

Related Links

Paul Simon, Don’t Break Cultural Boycott Again!
Resist Obamanations: Ilan Pappe “Throw a shoe at Obama’s betrayal”: One can continue to boycott Israeli goods and cultural representatives in France, even if there is a new law against it. If Palestinians in Israel can defy Israeli laws against Nakba commemoration, insidious European laws and regulations should be ignored as well.
Festival bans Israel boycott supporters

In a statement provided by the Shalom Institute program director, Michael Misrachi, organisers said they decided to rule out presenters who advocated the boycott because it undermined the event’s engagement with Israeli academic and artistic institutions and their representatives.

”This is not about censorship, nor are we seeking to stifle dissenting views. Limmud-Oz is proud of the principles of pluralism and inclusiveness which guide us and Limmuds around the world,” it read.

Mr Misrachi confirmed Dr Slezak and Ms Porzsolt’s names were removed from the list of speakers on the event’s website following complaints.

Two other speakers have since pulled out of the festival in protest at the ban, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported.

Ms Porzsolt, who said she would still attend the festival, told organisers in an email they had misrepresented the boycott, and asked them to reconsider.

”My proposed workshop was not even on BDS … The exclusion of me as a person for the ideas I hold generally, and not because of the topic of my workshop, smacks of excommunication,” it read.

The chief executive of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, Vic Alhadeff, said it endorsed the decision of the Shalom Institute.

Palestine / Israel Links

About 8 minutes into the archive, Rae Abileah speaks from hospital about need to rise up against war criminals like Nutanyahoo and perfidy of the vicious AIPAC thugs from the audience who assaulted her. No charges are being pressed against her.
Witness the Shocking Denial and Ignorance About the Occupation of Palestine by AIPAC Delegates
Americans protest Netanyahu AIPAC speech:
Constitution Committee Approves Bill Discriminating Against Those Who Did Not Serve in the Army
Complicity in Oppression: Do the Media Aid Israel?
MOVE OVER AIPAC: A view from the street
Another existential threat which frightens Israel : Palestinian infant close to death as Israel denies him medication
Netanyahu: Israel ready for painful compromises – If a thief is asked to return stolen property, is this a ‘painful compromise’ except to other thieves?
Tim Llewellyn, bias and the BBC
Netanyahu’s end game

There is a breaking point for Palestinian patience and Netanyahu is making sure that we reach it soon. Clouding the issues will not change the fact that millions of Palestinians in the territories are under occupation and siege. Their national aspiration for liberation has not died down nor will it recede. Netanyahu may have buried the peace process but he has brought back to life the Arab-Israeli conflict, this time in a changing Arab world!

May Nutanyahoo lose the end game and everyone win!
Izbat al-Tabib village resists land confiscation, demolition orders
Nadia Hijab: ‘Israel needs to be a state in which all citizens are equal’

Whatever outcome there is, whether one or two states in the land that was Palestine until the conflict began in 1948, all citizens must enjoy equal rights, whether, they’re Jewish, Christian, or Muslim, whether men or women. … Until President Obama is willing or able to use U.S. leverage with Israel to hold it accountable under the law, then Israel will continue to colonize Palestinian land, and the Arab world will continue to hold America responsible.

Protestor who disrupted Netanyahu in Congress attacked, hospitalized, arrested
To Friendly Crowd, Netanyahu Repeats Criteria for Peace

In the West Bank, Nabil Shaath, a senior Palestinian official, called the speech “a declaration of war against the Palestinians.”

“This is an escalation and unfortunately, it received a standing ovation,” he told The Associated Press. He noted that Mr. Netanyahu had rejected Palestinian demands on issues as central as future borders, the status of Jerusalem and the fate of refugees.


Mr. Netanyahu said that the Palestinian leader must do what he has done: “I stood before my people and I said, ‘I will accept a Palestinian state.’ It’s time for President Abbas to stand before his people and say, ‘I will accept a Jewish state.’ ”

He added: “Those six words will convince the people of Israel that they have a true partner for peace. With those six words, the Israeli people will be prepared to make a far-reaching compromise. I will be prepared to make a far-reaching compromise.”

@avinunu I am Israel, I expel you, oppress you, deny your history, accuse you of having a culture of hate, then demand that you recognize & love me.
Shir Hever: ‘The prospect of a democratic state in which Palestinians will be equal citizens is more threatening to the Israeli government than an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and because of that the Israeli government will implement, and has already began to implement, mechanisms by which to turn the PA into a subcontractor of occupation.’
Obama admin pleased that Netanyahu refuses to acknowledge Zionist racism
Disagreement is treason: VIDEO: AIPAC Attendees Say Jews Who Criticize Israel Are Traitors, Demand Loyalty To Netanyahu

Gaza is ‘more dependent than ever on outside aid’ : ICRC spokesperson

Haaretz reports on the ICRC’s Mathilde De Riedmatten’s interview available on the ICRC site, and not through the malignant, harm minimising IDF prism this time. Mathilde confirms that the ICRC is concerned about the fact that “the 1.5 million people in the Strip are unable to live a normal and dignified life”.

Some of the most salient, distressing points about the hardship suffered by the civilian population of Gaza which are better highlighted on the ICRC site than in the Haaretz version:

“The area along the fence extending 300 metres into Gaza has been declared a no-go zone by the Israel Defense Forces. A far bigger area, extending nearly one kilometre into the Gaza Strip, is considered dangerous because of the Israeli military’s incursions and use of live ammunition.

Gaza is more dependent than ever on outside aid. For young people – fully 50 per cent of Gaza’s 1.5 million residents are under 18 years of age – there is a crushing lack of prospects, and it is a constant struggle for them to maintain hope in the future.

The strict limits on imports and the almost absolute ban on exports imposed by Israel make economic recovery impossible. The unemployment rate currently stands at nearly 40 per cent. It will remain ruinously high as long as the economy fails to recover. This difficult situation exacerbates the considerable hardship already caused by the collapse of previously prosperous branches of the economy.

Over the years, access to land suitable for agriculture has been eroded by restrictions imposed in the areas near Israel and the levelling of land and destruction of trees by the Israel Defense Forces. To make matters worse, the high price or even total lack of some farm inputs such as fertilizer, pesticides, etc., and the lack of export opportunities have weighed heavily on the primary sector. In addition, many fishermen have lost their livelihood as a result of Israel reducing the area at sea within which it allows fishing to three nautical miles from Gaza’s coastline.”

The restriction on the movement of people out of Gaza remains unchanged. The current Israeli permit system, combined with rigorous controls, means that only people in need of medical attention who fulfil strict security criteria are allowed to leave either through the Rafah crossing into Egypt or through the Erez crossing into Israel. Very few other people are allowed out of Gaza.

The entry of goods into Gaza is also still highly restricted, not only in terms of quantity but also in terms of the particular items allowed. Long delays are frequent. Some goods that are allowed in are so expensive that their availability hardly matters to the vast majority of the population, who could never afford them. Although there has been media coverage of the export of certain cash crops such as carnations and strawberries, the actual level of exports from the Gaza Strip remains close to zero. Imports of construction supplies and raw materials are still mostly banned, even though they are vital to the territory’s infrastructure and economic recovery.

Unless there is political change that results in freedom of movement for Gazans, increased imports of a variety of goods and significant exports, there will be no improvement.”

Thus it is clear that Israel is still enforcing its vile, illegal policy of collective punishment against the civilian population of Gaza.

Nutanyahoo faces protests at AIPAC 2011

Good job, CODEPINK!

Related Links

Why Sasha Gelzin disrupted Netanyahu at AIPAC – interview

CODEPINK issued a press release about tonight’s protests stating:

The protesters, 5 in all, rose one by one, unfurled banners, and chanted slogans. In response to Netanyahu’s claim that returning to the 1967 borders would be “indefensible,” activists called out that various aspects of Israel’s policy are indefensible.”

Gelzin told The Electronic Intifada by telephone, “The word indefensible has a more significant meaning than just borders. It also means ‘unjustifiable.’ We had to reclaim this word because all these types of Israeli apartheid are indefensible.”

Among the slogans the five protestors called out were:

“Occupying land is indefensible”
“Starving Gaza is indefensible”
“Bulldozing homes is indefensible”
“Silencing dissent is indefensible”
“Displacing refugees is indefensible”

Obama’s ‘Jewish state’ reference jars Palestinians
Obama to Palestinians: Eh, Colonization Happens
Bibi present, Jewish groups debate partisanship
Protesters interrupt PM’s AIPAC speech

Palestine / Israel Links

Fayyad cans Qatar in new cable released: “Qatar is a very lousy country, in every possible way”. What a treacherous scumbag collaborator!

¶7. (S) Fayyad said that he did not want to see the banking
system in Gaza, despite its problems, entirely collapse. He
worried that such a collapse would create long-term
difficulties in Gaza and would have serious repercussions on
the banking sector in the West Bank. Therefore, he would not
recommend that the Israeli banks cut off their relationships
with the Gaza banks. However, Fayyad said that he would
trust Israeli Central Bank Governor Stanley Fischer on this.
“”I have a better relationship with the Central Bank of Israel
than with the PMA.””

At ACRI : Tribunal on Immigration and Status Affairs: ‘The judges will be allowed to rule without any public debate; in fact, without holding an oral debate at all’.

‘The authorities will be exempt from presenting various documents to the court and will be allowed to demand ex-parte hearings.

Matters of immigration and the status of non-Jews are not currently regulated by a clear immigration policy. Therefore, once this tribunal is established, all the executive, legislative, and judicial powers pertaining to the immigration and status of non-Jews will be in the hands of the Ministries of Justice and Interior.

The courts have repeatedly criticized the executive branch for its policies and violations, and thus the executive branch now wishes to establish its own tribunal and so to rid itself of the court’s criticism.’

Eggs Fail To Recognize Omelette’s Right To Exist

No matter how much you hurt them, the Palestinians are never going to internalize the claim that their individual human rights and their collective national rights are inherently inferior to someone else’s, merely because of their failure to have a Jewish mom. They are never going to tell you that it was all right to dispossess them, just because this will make you feel better about the nagging doubt over your own legitimacy that is eating away at you.

why haven’t you heard of Daniel Drennan?
MAY 15: THE THIRD INTIFADA Maroun Ar-Ras/Palestine

Settlers fabricate non-existent “eternal rights”
Palestinian PM suffers heart attack in US
Israel Under Criticism From British Leaders And Politicians for its illegal settlement activity and its treatment of Palestinian children
Refugees and Zionist propaganda
Trial begins of officials involved in gas exports to Israel

Egypt Links

Bloggers slam army council in anti-SCAF blogging day
Piggipedia – SS General Mohsen Hafzi

Palestinian Self-Determination and Resistance to Colonisation

Omar Barghouti: “There is no Israeli nationality, just Jewish nationality. Israel is the only nation on earth which does not offer nationality to all its citizens.”

“You don’t acquire a right by committing a crime.”

“Colonisers don’t have natural rights in acquired territory.”

Chomsky 1976: ‘There is no such thing as “Israeli nationality” in the state of Israel. There is a “Jewish nation” but no “Israeli nation”. (In “The Arabs in Israel” – Sabri Jiryis)

Related Links

No Such Thing As Israeli Nationality
Netanyahu has invited America to punish Israel
Israel is unique in being a State that is a state, not of its own citizens but of its Jewish nationals. Indeed citizenship is becoming ever more meaningless as legislative attacks on Arab citizens of Israel become more frequent (e.g. not being allowed to live with a married partner from the Occupied Territories or being able to revoke the citizenship of Arabs). Israel is a Jewish State, a state of its Jewish nationals as opposed to all of its citizens. That is why it is not a democratic state but one which is ever fearful that the non-Jews (Arabs) are going to breed and multiply and outnumber Jews. That is the ‘demographic problem’ as it is quaintly termed.
“Israeli Nation” vs. “Jewish State”
“Jewish Nationality,” “National Institutions” and Institutionalized Dispossession

Palestine / Israel Links

Obama’s speech to AIPAC affirms commitment to Israel and US policies that doom it Ali Abunimah:

Obama’s use of demographic scare-mongering indicates an acceptance of the fundamentally racist view that the mere existence of certain categories of humans (in this case non-Jewish Palestinians) in a country is unacceptable and dangerous – even if they or their parents or grandparents were born in that country. Palestinians “west of the Jordan River” are not interlopers or intruders. They are indigenous people of the country. Instead of searching for ways for Israel to escape them by gerrymandering a bantustan, Obama should be calling for full and equal rights, nothing less.

Demonstration against Nakba crackdown and Obama Speech, Qalandia checkpoint, 20.05.2011
Netanyahu is an Outstanding Firefighter
Diana Buttu on President Obama’s Speech on Middle East & North Africa
Palestinian Activist Omar Barghouti Says Obama Speech “Irrelevant”
Israel and Palestine: Obama’s flawed approach : Richard Falk
Samah Sabawi’s thoughts on Obama’s speech truncated & mangled by the Australian
60 east J’lem Jewish homes to be dedicated
Transcript of Obama’s grovel. ‘America’s commitment to Israel’s security flows from a deeper place—and that’s the values we share. ‘ Those are of course, imperialism, occupation, oppression and exploitation.
‘Friend of Israel’ steers Obama’s Middle East policy
Obama’s AIPAC speech welcomed across Israel’s political spectrum
London protest against goods from illegal Israeli settlements
PFLP denounces Obama speech as another attempt to deceive Palestinians into a futile “peace process”
ULU: Why We Voted for Boycott
Stones alone will not stop the occupation
Belgian-French bank Dexia considers selling Israeli subsidiary
Lessons from Marrickville for BDS Activists

Israel is not supported by the Australian state (and Western powers) because of strong Israel lobbies in these countries or because politicians simply are misinformed and can do with a bit more reading. Unfortunately, they are informed all too-well and choose to support Israel regardless of its human rights violations. Israel serves a fundamental role as a pillar of support for western hegemony over the Middle East. Understanding this allows us to shift our longer-term Palestine solidarity organizing from lobbying politicians on an individual basis and writing letters to the media, to actually taking on the harder work of building a mass movement that targets the very economic and political connections that allow apartheid to continue. The strategic demands of boycott, divestment, and sanctions that we put forward target the powerful economic and ideological ties between North American, European, and Australian capital and apartheid Israel.

JfJfP condemns killings by Israel of Nakba-day demonstrators
Limmud Oz 2011 is compromised by banning people
Israel ‘Approves New West Bank Settler Homes’
The third intifada: Inevitable, not imminent
Referendum on NUS affiliation sparks debate
Interview with Noam Chomsky
Walk the line in Palestine
17 year old Palestinian boy killed by army fire in Gaza
Questions persist regarding arrest of Israel’s military attaché in Russia
Palestinians plan large-scale march, border protest on June 5
Israel plans to seize 140,000 dunums of Dead Sea land
BBC is ‘confusing cause and effect’ in its Israeli coverage

Australia Links

John Pilger: How the Murdoch press keeps Australia’s dirty secret

The rationale to “intervene” was that child abuse among Aborigines was in “unthinkable numbers”. This was a fraud. Out of 7 433 Aboriginal children examined by doctors, four possible cases were identified. This is about the rate of child abuse in white Australia. What this covered was an old-fashioned colonial grab of mineral-rich land in the Northern Territory where Aboriginal land rights were granted in 1976.

The Murdoch press has been the most lurid and vociferous in its promotion of the “intervention”, which a United Nations special rapporteur has condemned for its racial discrimination. Once again, Australian politicians are dispossessing the first inhabitants, demanding leasehold of land in return for health and education rights that whites take for granted and driving them into “economically viable hubs” where they will be effectively detained – a form of apartheid.

The outrage and despair of most Aboriginal people is not heard. For using her institutional voice and exposing the government’s black supporters, Larissa Behrendt has been subjected to a vicious campaign of innuendo in the Murdoch press, including the implication that she is not a “real” Aborigine. Using the language of its soulmate the London Sun, the Australian derides the “abstract debate” of “land rights, apologies, treaties” as a “moralising mumbo-jumbo spreading like a virus”. The aim is to silence those who dare tell Australia’s dirty secret.

Intervention facing UN criticism
Rehoused Lebanon refugees still long for Palestine

Other Links

America Becoming an Idiocracy becoming???
The Obama Deception: Why Cornel West Went Ballistic by Chris Hedges